[TR] North Cascades, Arches Peak aka Little Johannesburg - Central Buttress of North Face, 10 roped pitches plus soloing, ~1,600 vertical feet, 5.6/7ish 08/03/2025

[lunger]

Trip: North Cascades, Arches Peak aka Little Johannesburg - Central Buttress of North Face, 10 roped pitches plus soloing, ~1,600 vertical feet, 5.6/7ish

Trip Date: 08/03/2025

Trip Report:

A couple of weeks ago, Rolf Larson and I climbed a probable* new route on this peak.

Anyone cresting Easy Pass has been greeted by the big north face of this peak. There is one reported route on the face from the late 1970s; the party climbed the left-hand "Plumb Line Buttress" 2,700' from the valley floor to the summit, which clocks in at 7,945'. They reported loose rock. (See photo of register page in the album linked below, the AAJ, or Beckey guide.)

Of three relatively prominent buttresses, our route climbs to the western false summit (circa 200' west of true summit) via the central buttress --  the most prominent one lit up (furthest left) in the photo below. We believe the 1977 line appears in this photo as a nondescript buttress in the shade further off to the left. Our route wends up the gneissly-featured buttress on pretty good, pretty clean Skagit rock--we began climbing behind the third snow-patch from the right on that prominent shelf, directly below the toe of the sunlit buttress.

(Also available here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/BV3itCHmqcoo7qL38)

We had fun on this route, which thankfully was in shade while we climbed. Didn't take many climbing photos, but snippets of conversation went like this:

"How'd you like that section of hand crack?" "I preferred my section of laser-cut finger crack." "Yeah, I went Squamish style and laid it back." 

Here's Rolf putting in a piece at perhaps mid-height on the face (the rope is out of view, off to the right): 

The first pitch was probably the steepest and most sustained, fwiw, and had a 5.6 or maybe .7 move. A couple of steep mini-headwalls were also climbed in that range of difficulty, but a person could avoid these if willing to take looser rock. We unroped for a few hundred feet of mellow scrambling after the first pitch or two, but some steeper terrain compelled us to again rope up and resort to pitching and simul-climbing on fourth and low-fifth terrain. The climbing is moderate, but generally solid and fun, with adequate protection.

*As you will see in the summit register pics, Roger Jung soloed a route on the north face, but it's hard to say if he took our route -- there is certainly latitude to wander on that big north face.

The photo album, which includes some pages from the register: https://photos.app.goo.gl/4JU83LgK6XKFdbSA7

We descended via a walk off to the south and east--no crampons required. The short-ish approach, moderate and generally solid climbing, and easy descent (not to mention the blueberries!!) might make this climb more appealing than some of Rolf's and my other routes.

I'll wait for Rolf to correct me on any details (which are already fuzzy), downgrade the level of difficulty (as is his crusty wont), etc. etc.

Here's an early musing about Arches from the cc.com archives: 

 

Gear Notes:
Standard rack with emphasis in finger-sized pieces; tri-cams were useful

Approach Notes:
Via Easy Pass, drop to and cross Fisher Creek, find your way up through the lower cliff bands, wiggle-chimney between moat and rock to the start

[olyclimber]

The Professor and the Beast with yet another exploit. Thanks for sharing.

[JasonG]

Boom!  Just look at that proud face! (at least I hope that is your buttress on the skyline)

[manninjo]

Sounds very fun, excellent. Great looking line. Looks like little to no bushwhack either, no issue with creek this time of year? 

[lunger]

Thanks for the photo, Jason -- a much better perspective on our line. 

You got it, Joe--minimal brush involved to cross the creek to talus, and the creek was easily crossed this time of year.